Ugh! Big Protest This Weekend Against "Chemtrails", A Threat That Doesn't Exist

These are contrails from jet exhaust. Not chemtrails. 

Last weekend brought inspiring mass protests pointing out the very real dangers looming due to climate change.  

This coming weekend will bring loony protests against an imaginary threat that way too many gullible people say is real: Something called chemtrails.

As Vane, the weather page on Gawker notes, these so calles chemtrails are really condensation trails from jet airplanes.

You know how your warm, moist breath causes a puff of steam when you exhale on a really cold day?

The same kind of thing happens with high flying jets. The hot, moisture laden exhaust from the jet engines belches into the frigid atmosphere tens of thousands of feet up there. So you get that white little streak like a tail behind a jet passing overhead.

Depending on wind patterns and the amount of moisture in the upper atmosphere, these condensation trails can spread into pretty big areas of high flying cirrus clouds that can linger for hours.

But there are a surprisingly large number of people that think these condensation trails are really dangerous chemicals being spread by the government for any variety of reasons, including spraying mind controlling drugs on an unsuspecting populace,  cause awful storms meant to cow people into not criticizing or resisting the government, or for some sort of population control scheme.

Hence, this weekend's Global March Against Chemtrails and Geoengineering.

Sadly, organizers use the same language some global climate change activists use:

"Help raise awareness against the world's largest ecological disaster mankind has ever witnessed with whatever your skill or talent is." 

The chemtrail activists use pseudo-scientific and flowery language to make their point:

"The damage is done! The research is conclusive! Our environment and our planet is on a dead end collision from the toxic effect of high altitude aerosol injections commonly known (sic) Aerosol Geoengineering and Chemtrails. No place on Earth is safe from Aerosols Geoengineering Ecoside!"

I think this chemtrail madness stems from both an anti-science mindset in this country and of course the Internet.  Groups of conspiracy theorists find their own "experts" to promote their wacky cause and say the serious scientists are part of the conspiracy, or don't know what they're talking about.

The Internet helps spread all this insanity.  I suppose I could be making things worse by giving the chemtrail activists a bit of publicity, but I think talking about them is better than pretending they don't exist. Knowledge is power.

There's a sort of tribalism at work in these conspiracy type things too. Once you convince somebody something is true, it's hard to dissuade them. So they buckle down, and find like minded people, and they all feed off each other. It's human nature, I guess.

I also think most people up in arms over "chemtrails" are well meaning, just misguided.

Still, I'm sure I will have people roundly criticizing me for dismissing this false threat of chemtrails. Or say I'm part of the conspiracy. Whatever.

The hard work for the rest of us is wading through all the stories out there to figure out which are the credible sources, and which are the flakes.

It takes a fair amount of reading to tease out the credible reports, but once you find a news or science source that really seems sane and well researched, stick with them.

If I find serious science and journalism that indicates chemtrails are real, I'll surely join the bandwagon against the phenomenon. But there's nothing credible out there. "Chemtrails" are just water vapor. Relax.

In terms of climate change, well, there's boatloads of serious science indicating that it's real and we need to deal with it. Hence last week's climate march.

True, there are whack jobs who say climate change will kill all of humanity within a few years (It won't.) And others who say climate change is just a bunch of scientists scamming for research dollars. (Uh, no.)

The bottom line:  Please do join environmental causes you feel strongly about.  But before you do, complete a little research to make sure the threat is real, is serious, and you're not taken in by people with wild imaginations or who are just trying to make a buck.